


Lessons from the Heartless

by thebabytiger



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Crack, F/F, Ficlet Collection, Plot What Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 04:16:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1730783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebabytiger/pseuds/thebabytiger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magic lessons with Regina have taken an interesting turn ever since the brunette lost her heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Emma Swan suddenly, in a rather large and flamboyant puff of purple smoke, appeared in one of the only two jail cells the town of Storybrooke had. Not again! Blinking stupidly, it took her a second to get her bearings and when she did she found herself on the business end of Prince Charming's sidearm.

"Christ Emma," David said, lowering the weapon with an audible sigh, "you startled me!" And indeed, Emma could see the evidence - papers littered the floor where David had presumably thrown them in his haste to reach his gun and the chair that normal sat behind the sturdy desk had been tipped unceremoniously to the floor as the man had stood up to bring the gun to bear on his daughter. "I thought you might have been Zelena or Rumplestiltskin," he added, shoving the weapon back into it's shoulder holster.

"Just me," Emma said with a small smile, holding her hands up slightly as she moved to leave the cell. 

"You know, you don't have to do surprise inspections of the station, Sheriff," her father said with a grin, righting the chair and returning to his seat. "I promise the town is in good hands when you're not here."

Emma couldn't help but stare at him for a moment. "It's not like I ended up here on purpose just to check on you, David!" she managed eventually, entirely disregarding the fact that she wasn't even Sheriff anymore. She certainly hadn't wanted to be anywhere near her father when she had been transported against her will into the jail cell. In fact, the only thing that was more sobering than the bite of cold stone against her bare feet was finding yourself on the wrong end of a gun-wielding Prince Charming.

"The purple smoke does kind of indicate that Regina was somehow involved, yeah," David said, more than a little sheepishly. "How are the magic lessons going?"

At any other time, Emma could have wholeheartedly said they were going fantastic. She did feel she was progressing nicely but, considering that she was now barefoot in the town's Sheriff's office instead of the Mayoral mansion, at that moment she was fairly certain things weren't going to plan. "I think we're getting somewhere," she replied vaguely, hoping it came off as optimistic, "though it might take me a bit to get the hang of teleportation. Which is why I should probably get going. Lesson isn't over yet and I'll have to walk back to Regina's place." She could feel the back of her neck heating up at the lie, though thankfully the flush didn't spread to her face or chest. 

"You're not wearing shoes," Charming said, jumping to his feet, "and I could use a bit of a break. Let me drive you."

"Yeah, thanks David," Emma said, feeling slightly trapped even if she was grateful that she wouldn't have to walk back across town barefoot. The truth of the matter was that she and Regina were nowhere near working on teleportation, although she suspected that part of that was by Regina's design rather than being due to the fact that her skills had not yet progressed to that point.

Magic lessons with the brunette were always nothing short of interesting, but there had been an ulterior motive to requesting to voluntarily spend more time with the brunette. As much as she felt like a terrible mother for doing this, time spent working on magic was guaranteed to be Henry-free, and when it came to spending time with Regina that wasn't something the blonde got very much of. Another bonus was that no one else in the town cared much to be a spectator for magic lessons, not caring much about the how or why of it all as long as it eventually showed up to the fight. And Emma couldn't say she cared that no one was around to watch Regina thoroughly trounce her in the game of magic. Or in any other kind of engagement they'd had recently.

It had certainly been odd to be back in Storybrooke, after a year of living a life with no memory of her time in the small town or the past 10 years of her life, but she had welcomed being back even if it was clear that the lost year had changed things for her and for the other residents. For starters, it had been quite a shock to find a pregnant Mary Margaret, but even that hadn't prevented Emma from relaxing back into the routine of being home. It was complicated by Zelena, of course, and the fact that Henry still didn't have his memories back, but being back among family had been very welcome after a year away. Not something Emma had ever thought she would feel. But even more welcome was being back with Regina after a year away. While Emma hadn't missed the other woman during her year in New York, the feelings had hit her like a Mack truck once she had tasted that potion. Even more terrible had been the guilt of her time spent with Walsh, although she was relieved that she hadn't accepted his proposal for reasons that had nothing to do with his turning out to be a flying monkey. A freaking flying monkey! She had known once the curse broke that nothing would ever be normal again, but that was pushing the line on even those vague expectations.

The Evil Queen and the Savior had started their affair somewhere between trying to kill each other, though not literally. It had only been a matter of time, Emma mused, before the passionate energy that she and Regina had put solely into fighting each other had resulted in either death or a relationship of sorts. Though not entirely romantic in nature, it was certainly headed that direction and the sex more than made up for what it lacked in candle-lit dinners. And things had been going well with Regina, despite the year apart. It seemed that despite not remembering the year, the Queen had felt much the same as Emma about their separation and was amenable to resuming their relationship.

And then Zelena had challenged her little sister to that fight and their relationship had taken a turn for the... more interesting. 

One of the things that Emma did not have was a lifetime of knowledge from her fairy-tale life, and every now and then she was made painfully aware of that as something new took her entirely by surprise. In this particular instance, mind already reeling from learning about Zelena, the Wicked Witch, and her band of flying monkeys, she had been rather surprised by the way in which Regina handled the fight with her sister. She had been worried, of course, when Regina didn't show immediately and had tried to step in (which was how she had learned lessons could be a good idea) but was even more perturbed when the brunette did show her face. 

The Regina that had faced down Zelena that night was not a version of the woman that Emma could ever recall seeing, although there were several parallels. There was something about the rawness to her, so many sharp and jagged edges, that had put the blonde on edge. This, Emma had realized, was the Evil Queen that she had never fully met. 

When Regina had casually mentioned that she had simply removed her own heart so her elder sister couldn't take it, Emma had been aghast. They had, after all, spent a decent amount of time trying to keep their own hearts in their chests while also returning other hearts to their correct owners and so the idea that anyone would voluntarily remove their own seemed highly counter-intuitive. That being said, the logic wasn't terrible. 

What was interesting was the effect heartlessness had on Regina. To those who had known the Evil Queen, or had heard of her, this new Regina wasn't markedly different than the old one. At the very middle of everyone's feelings, Regina was still the Evil Queen, no matter how much good she had done since the curse had broken, and regardless of reality, their expectations were met in some form or another. What wasn't true was explained away by their subconscious. But for Emma, who had never truly known the Evil Queen, this new Regina was just different enough for it to be off-putting, though in some ways Regina wasn't truly any different. For example, heart or not, Emma had found that Regina still wanted to spend time with her. The same couldn't quite be said for Henry, although she was certain that the Mayor still missed the young boy. This new, competitive Regina seemed to see his loss of memory as a challenge and was more interested in beating her sister and winning Henry's memories back than she was in trying to make new ones with her adoptive son. 

It wasn't just Zelena that Regina wanted to beat. Winning had become the name of the game for the Mayor, and with that single-minded drive came a sometimes alarming disregard for the finer details, such as safety and feelings. While Emma was astounded that Snow White and the Evil Queen had managed to talk over their feelings for long enough to come to some sort of truce (especially the kind in which Regina actively worked to protect Snow at all costs), she suspected that this truce was born out of a need for answers from her mother and had recognized that letting the deceased woman kill Snow White was not conducive to receiving those answers. Even Emma was feeling the brunt of this competitive streak.

One thing she had to say, she thought ruefully, was that Regina was teaching her to be ready for anything. The very fact that she had to be driven back to the Mayor's mansion after having been suddenly teleported into a jail cell spoke enough to that fact. Unfortunately, this was starting to become a normal occurrence, and it wasn't restricted to their out of the bedroom activities. In fact, the teleportation trick, if one could call it that, was entirely devoted to use during their time in the bedroom. Regina had other ways of keeping her on her toes during their magic lessons. And Emma didn't have enough of a grasp of her magic to fend anything off yet. Which the brunette loved to point out, both verbally and not, at any opportunity. Heartless people were amazingly void of patience.

Which is exactly how Emma had found herself standing barefoot in a jail cell, even if it was open and she was free to come and go as she pleased. No doubt Regina had found the idea funny when she had waved her hand and poofed her girlfriend somewhere else just as said girlfriend was trying to put a move on her lover. It seemed that winning was so important that Regina couldn't even stand to be topped in the slightest way, and every time Emma made a move for dominance the brunette just lost interest, and patience, and poof, Emma was suddenly elsewhere. The blonde suspected that Regina was now taking sick pleasure in coming up with new and interesting places to poof her. Heaven forbid Emma accidentally try something the Queen found objectionable while they were actually in a state of undress, since Regina had been fond of public places so far.

With a blink, she realized that David was pulling up in front of Regina's house, smiling easily at her from the driver's seat. 

"Try not to let her poof you all over town, okay?" he said teasingly, "I don't want to have to go looking for you in trees or anything crazy." At least someone else understood Regina's twisted sense of humor, although the idea of getting teleported into the top branches of a tree made Emma go suddenly pale.

"I'll see what I can do," she said noncommittally, praying that she wouldn't have to handle that scenario ever. Ever. "Thanks for the ride," she added as she got out of the car. David waved as she closed the door and drove off, leaving Emma to make her way up to the front door in relative peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma reached for Regina as she stepped forward with a grin, eyes dark with intent…

… and found herself unceremoniously walking right into one of the many shelving units in the stock room at Granny’s.

“Fuck,” she hissed, rubbing at her shin where it had hit the edge of a shelf. Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself down, which was harder to do with arousal still lingering in the pit of her stomach and the pain in her shin forcing her to remember exactly how she had ended up in this position. Again. Shirtless. “God damnit, Regina,” she growled softly.

Being shirtless would be a problem and she was a sitting duck holed up in the stock room. All it would take would be for someone to walk in and things would begin to go south very quickly. More south. More quickly. At this point, she was longing for the barefoot-in-a-jail-cell encounter she’d had with her father last week, as at the very least she’d been fully clothed and could have easily walked herself right out of whatever trouble she’d been put in. With a full restaurant, there was a slim to none chance that she could manage to slip out without being seen, and even then there was absolutely no chance that she could make it home or back to Regina’s without being spotted. The headline practically wrote itself. Sidney would have to start paying her for all the stories if Regina kept sending her all over town without all her clothes.

She’d barely had the opportunity to fully immerse herself in all the possible horrors when the door opened to the stock room. In a flash Emma found herself scrambling for cover in the sort of undignified way that she would completely deny later only to find herself once more colliding with a shelf. “Shit!” she exclaimed, this time in a much louder tone of voice than her previous cursing.

“Hello?” Ruby asked, searching in the semi-dark for the source of the voice she hadn’t been expecting. Emma couldn’t help but sag with relief, luckily out of direct view and out of the beam of light that had come into the room through the open door. However, she could see Ruby’s hand reach hesitantly for the light in the dark, and blushing a furious red Emma seized her wrist to pull her further inside the room. Caught off guard, the leggy brunette capitulated with nothing more than a squeak of surprise as she grabbed another shelf to steady herself and Emma reached the door, yanking it shut and bathing the room once more in darkness. A rumbling growl, and the yellow gleam of eyes from across the room, let her know that Ruby had most certainly not appreciated it.

“Ruby, it’s just me,” she said hastily, back to the door as if her presence there could keep it from opening again. Reality, and experience, told Emma that such an attempt was futile and that the universe was more likely to send another person into the room. Basic spatial awareness told Emma that chances were high of her being knocked across the room by the door when it did. “Calm down. I’m sorry,” she babbled helplessly, practically panicking, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Why Emma,” Ruby said after a slight pause, “If you wanted me in here you could have just asked.” The tone was slightly teasing, and Emma found herself relaxing a little bit more at the familiarity of it all. Unlike Regina’s mocking tone, which filled her with heat in more ways than one, this flirtatious banter from Ruby was as close to status quo as it got, and Emma knew that she was very, very lucky that it had been Ruby, if it’d had to be anyone, who found her first.

“Ha ha ha,” Emma groused, “I don’t care what you do in your spare time, Rubes, but trust me when I say this wasn’t exactly the destination I had in mind.” Emma’s eyes were starting to adjust to the dark, so she could only imagine what it was that Ruby, with her gleaming yellow wolf eyes, was able to see. She had to very forcibly remind herself not to shift in any way to cover herself. It could only get worse if she did.

“I’d imagine not, unless you’re shirtless for my benefit,” Ruby pointed out with poorly contained laughter. Emma felt the blush spread beyond her face, heat suffusing the skin of her neck and chest. "Okay, not for my benefit at all, if that blush is anything to go by. Damn, girl, you're blushing redder than the sun over there!" she crowed, enjoying herself way too much.

"You're enjoying yourself way too much!" Emma hissed venomously, throwing caution to the wind and giving in to the urge to cover her torso with her arms. Not that it truly did anything, especially since Ruby had already seen everything.

“Wouldn’t you?” was the instant rebuttal. Well, Ruby had a point there. Still…

“No,” Emma denied hotly, “I wouldn’t! I would be trying to help a friend avoid a potentially life-ruining situation.”

“While laughing hysterically,” Ruby added unhelpfully. “How did you get in here anyway?”

“Regina,” Emma muttered sourly. Their affair was more or less secret, but if Ruby hadn’t already smelled it on them a year ago Emma would be truly astonished. As it was, the secrecy of their affair came in a distant second to getting out of the stockroom and back to her clothes unseen. Or, alternatively, clothed and back home to sulk in peace.

“Your magic lessons seem to be going fantastically. Wasn’t David just saying you’d been poofed into the station last week?” Emma’s snarl was beyond irritated, but gave an undaunted Ruby all the answer she needed. “Are you truly so hopeless as a student that Regina couldn’t stand having you around for a single second?” Mercifully, she didn’t seem inclined to point out that typical student/teacher relationships didn’t include the student being shirtless.

“I’d rather not talk about it Ruby,” she said, with more patience than she currently felt. “Can you get me out of here unseen or not?”

“Not,” Ruby responded instantly, amicable smile on her face. There wasn’t even a hint of apology in her face either. “You go out that door like that and there will be no saving you.”

Emma groaned and kicked at one of the shelves in irritation. “God damnit, Regina,” she muttered for the second time since she’d appeared in the stockroom.

“Hey!” Ruby protested mildly. “No need to take out your woman troubles on the shelves. We need those intact to hold all the stuff in this room, thanks very much.”

Emma paled instantly at the casual way in which Ruby had admitted what Emma had already suspected she knew. Never having been one to know a lost cause when she saw it, Emma instantly started to deny everything. “Woman troubles? Ruby it’s not-“

“Emma, let’s save this particularly pointless argument for when you’re wearing a shirt, okay?” Ruby said, palm held up in front of her pacifyingly, though the eye roll that accompanied it somewhat ruined the effect.

“I… I…” Emma croaked in disbelief, wanting to continue the argument but feeling whatever protest she could have made be squashed by the crushing weight of the entire scenario. “I’m screwed.”

“Not until I get you back to Regina’s unscathed,” Ruby chimed in cheerfully. Emma could have strangled her, but luckily Ruby’s next comment killed any homicidal impulse. “Sit tight while I get you some clothes. And for goodness’ sake, don’t make a racket in here. Granny may not be able to transform but her ears are as good as ever.”

“Ruby, thank you-“

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Ruby said, waving off the blonde’s gratitude. “Don’t thank me until you’re done explaining to Madame Mayor why her girlfriend is wearing another woman’s shirt.”


	3. Chapter 3

There was absolutely no warning; in one moment Emma’s hips were bucking up into Regina’s hand, urging her without words to stop teasing, and in the next Emma was flat on her back in cold grass. Nipples already hard with arousal hardened painfully in the chilly air and Emma groaned at the predicament she found herself in now. Hand raised to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun overhead, she cautiously looked around, unsure as to whether she should give into the overwhelming panic of being deposited out into the open without any clothes whatsoever (scratch that, she told herself as she remembered that she had never removed her socks. She couldn’t say if her apparent lack of class was any consolation at all or if it all was just as damning, socks or no) or if she should try and move as little as possible and hope that no one was around to witness this.

However, the inevitability of eventual discovery or embarrassment at least made her give in to the vague curiosity about her surroundings. Regina had been getting increasingly original with where she had been sending Emma with the crook of her finger or a flick of her wrist, and Emma had been trying to keep up with the amount of resourcefulness she had to display in order to get out of some of these predicaments. The incident in Granny’s had not been the only time she had been partially undressed, but for the most part she had been able to make her way to a source of clothing without detection. On occasion, Ruby had come to the rescue again (and always with a teasing laugh) but Emma had been able to rescue herself a time or two when the situation allowed. She was starting to think that this situation would not allow, unless Regina had been uncharacteristically generous in teleporting her naked and frustrated girlfriend around town.

Gratefully, her eyes took in the familiar but secluded surroundings of Regina’s spacious backyard and she allowed herself a moment of relief, sinking back into the cold grass as tension left her. It wasn’t gone for long, however, since she was completely exposed to the environment and while not snowing or raining (thank goodness) it was definitely not bikini weather. And the socks weren’t doing much to keep her warm after all. Climbing to her feet, she looked around, again, taking in with gratitude the green grass of the lawn lined with thick trees for privacy. It wasn’t entirely safe from prying eyes, Emma knew, and it was definitely not safe from anyone who felt like walking into the yard, or walking past the street, but Emma also knew that the only person ballsy enough to spy on the Evil Queen was the person they were all fighting anyway, or Gold. While she would surely never live it down if Gold did get an eyeful, she would take that over the entire town any day. And though redeemed, to an extent, the townsfolk still didn’t like to bother Regina unnecessarily, or even get into close proximity with her. So at least she was as safe as she could possibly be while so exposed.

Brushing stray pieces of grass from her body, she gave a few short hops to try and get her blood circulating again and then made her way quickly but calmly to the back door, reaching for the handle. The momentary purple glow beneath her fingers was her only warning this time as she was blown back from the door, her shoulder catching the brunt of the injury as she tried to roll with the fall. Gingerly, and cautiously, she stood and made her way back to the door, this time letting her fingers fall short of touching the handle. 

“At least this lesson is one we’ve actually covered,” she muttered under her breath sourly. The entire game was getting old, but there would be no talking to Regina as long as she had no heart and there would be no getting her heart back until Emma had at least managed to learn some amount of magic. And there was no way that she could even pretend that she fit that definition when she couldn’t even poof herself back inside, let alone prevent herself from having been poofed outside in the first place. No, Emma Swan was not yet anything resembling proficient in magic. But she could at least dismantle the relatively simple wards Regina kept to deter burglars and other petty crime. 

Closing her eyes to ground herself, hearing Regina’s voice in her head chastising her for not keeping sight of her surroundings, she opened them and stared hard at the door handle, willing the magic within her to react and aid her efforts. It was, after all, cold. Her magic, an icy blue, crackled alarmingly as it met with the purple of Regina’s magic, but Emma knew that this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Much like the women themselves, their magic worked together in seamless harmony, but when set in opposition to each other spit sparks and fought with everything it had to win against the other force. It had taken Emma quite a bit of time (between all of the times she was sent across town, and all the times she was miraculously allowed to stay right where she was) to learn how to undo a single thing Regina had done, their magics clashed so fiercely when not working towards the same cause. Luckily for Emma, undoing the magical locks on the door to the Mayoral Mansion had been the first subject she had truly applied herself in. She was choosing to ignore the fact that this coincided with the mayor switching over to magic only locks, meaning that if Regina didn’t open the door for her, Emma couldn’t have gotten through without help. Keys, the Mayor had decided, were out of fashion in Storybrooke.

So after an intense light-show, the sparks vanished entirely as Emma’s magic won out against the wards. Filled with a sense of triumph that was helpfully giving her the illusion of warmth, she reached for the door once more, only to have the handle turn beneath her hand while the door stayed closed. Incredulous, Emma tried again, leaning her shoulder into the door.

“Locked. Deadbolt,” she confirmed to herself out loud, with a sense of disbelief. “Since when do you lock doors?” she half-yelled, tilting her head up as if yelling in the direction of the windows on the upper level would actually catch Regina’s attention. As if Regina actually cared. Emma was willing to warrant that this door hadn’t even been locked five minutes prior and that a cursory check of the front door, which she knew had not been locked, and the windows on the ground floor would show that all were now firmly secured using the pedestrian, out of fashion, non-magical locks that they had been originally equipped with. Not that she was willing to risk going out to the front of the house in her state of undress.

Scowling, she kicked at the door ineffectually, though not truly hard enough to do damage to her foot, as she considered her options. Years as a bail-bonds person had given her a few different skills suited for this type of thing but just because she could shoulder the door off its hinges didn’t mean she wanted to. Especially while wearing nothing. Especially considering the heft of the door, and the fact that Emma would be the one having to fix it when Regina flipped shit over the damage. That left lock-picking, which would be much easier if she actually had her picks with her. And since she didn’t even have underwear, it was safe to say she was without most sophisticated options.

But she did still have her hairpins, though they were all but useless for their original purpose by then. Her hair had been decidedly mussed by demanding fingers before she had taken an unplanned roll in the leaves and as a result her hairstyle was all but destroyed. But the pins were still in there, caught in the tangles and hidden within the voluminous density of her hair. She was quite honestly lucky to find all of the pins when she was looking for them, let alone in the middle of an afternoon tryst, and in this particular she couldn’t be more grateful to her difficult hair as she managed to fish two pins out from between the grass, leaves, and tangled remnants of her bun. Bending one quickly into an L shape using her teeth and straightening the other one out entirely, she inserted both pins into the locks and put all of her attention towards the feel of the lock’s inner mechanics. 

The lock’s key hole rotated obligingly after only a few passes with the unfolded pin along the tumblers and she removed it, bending the pin back into something resembling the original shape and sticking it haphazardly into her hair once more so she could focus all of her attention on turning the lock. A locksmith’s tools were better suited for doing this comfortably, and while a bobby pin worked just as well, they were harder to grip due to the shortness of the “handle”. And of course Regina had locked the deadbolt, rather than the door handle, and the deadbolt wasn’t on a spring. She would have to manually turn the entire key hole to made the deadbolt slide all the way back, and she would have to do it with a precarious grip on the bobby pin to boot. Luckily, this wasn’t the first time Emma had been forced to do this sort of thing, and while difficult and slightly tedious, she was able to eventually work the lock all the way open.

The lock snicked once and Emma reached for the door with a triumphant smile as the knob turned and the door opened in front of her, finally granting her uncomplicated access to the mansion. Swiftly, she removed the final bobby pin from the lock and, giving it up for a lost cause, tossed it carelessly into a nearby planter before stepping inside and closing the door behind her, letting the warmth sink in gratefully. She paused for only a moment, hesitating over whether or not to lock the door again before flipping the lock and walking calmly and confidently from the small mudroom in the direction of Regina’s bedroom, uncaring if she got pieces of grass and leaves all over the house. Maybe Regina would think about this the next time she felt the urge to banish her with no more than an instant of thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Her recent practice with lock-picking came in handy a few weeks later, when she found herself staggering sideways into the cool glass of the clock-tower’s newly repaired glass face. Luckily, her feet were firmly planted on the inside of the clock tower rather than on one of the clock’s hands, as it was around 3 in the afternoon and Emma could easily picture Regina thinking it was funny to strand her up there, where she would be safe for a time, and leave Emma with less than an hour to get herself down before she slid right off. At the very least, if she tried it in the future, Emma knew that she would attract a lot of attention up there and it was only 4 stories up, if she had to take a tumble. It wasn’t ideal, but it also wasn’t impossible to survive as long as she did it right.

The witch-fight and eventual repairs (though not for the first time since she had become Sherriff, Emma noted sourly) had made her very familiar with the inner workings of the clock tower and library below it. The glass had been magically reinforced after installation, thanks to Blue and her fairies, with a handy bit of spell-work that even Regina had barely been able to turn up her nose at (though she had, eventually given a slight sniff of disapproval before deeming it to be barely acceptable). Such reinforcements should, with any luck, at least help prevent people from being tossed through the glass and onto the street below or, in Regina’s special case, being thrown through the glass into the tower itself. Either scenario was worth avoiding, especially since Zelena was still in town somewhere and Regina could have easily died falling down the stairs inside the clock tower, if not from the glass itself.

As it was, repairs had taken more than a month both times and as Sherriff, the first time, she had thought it prudent to install a few new locks between the library and the clock tower so that anyone able to climb up to the top of the tower wouldn’t be able to sneak into the library. Why she had thought anyone would want to sneak into the library she hadn’t been sure, but she had been glad that she had been thinking like that from the beginning the instant the Lost Boys had shown up on the scene. Not that she had had much time to worry about them after Neverland, considering Pan and his curse and the missing year. But now she was back and dealing with Robin Hood’s Merry Men being not so merry, and some lost boys, and pretending to Henry that the whole city wasn’t full of magic and the whole thing was exhausting even with the safeguards she had previously put into place against vandals. 

Of course, the new locks had been installed so that the key side was facing her and she would now be forced to pick at least four locks between here and the ground floor and consider herself lucky it was the middle of the day and the library’s alarm wouldn’t be set off the moment she got down there and tried to let herself out. At least there wasn’t a dragon in the basement anymore. But she was, unfortunately, running out of bobby pins, between all the ones that fell out, all the ones that got lost or left behind various places, and all the ones she’d had to turn into impromptu lock-picks. Not that it was bad policy to always have a few handy, but she was getting tired of having to be so careful with her hairstyles. Not that she hadn’t had the chance to get used to it, and indeed, do it voluntarily, during her year in New York. Even now the memories were hard to sort out and she knew she probably wouldn’t ever truly be able to reverse the influences they had on her own behavior. While not many, at times the changes were quite significant.

With a sigh, she slipped the necessary pins from her hair and headed down the small wooden staircase to her first obstacle, bending the pins between her teeth into the necessary shapes as she went.

Just three locks to go. 

She made quick work of them, after having dusted off her skills on Regina’s back door, and at the very least she was glad that they had not decided to ward the doors in addition to installing new locks. While possible to pick, as Emma had pointed out at the time and was now proving in person, the effort was deemed enough of a deterrent and at the time the only ones to have been able to get through the wards would have been Regina, Zelena, and the fairies. It had seemed prudent to expand the number of people able to get up there should need arise (or down, when one considered the list of people most likely to find themselves land unconventionally into the top level of the clock tower. It was a serious oversight that no one had considered this scenario as a possible method for getting there until now).

She was strangely amused by the whole situation, perhaps because this had been the least embarrassing incident thus far (considering she was actually clothed and was able to escape her entrapment with ease), by the time she strolled onto the second floor of the library, two flights below. Her younger years, first in the foster system and then her time with Neal, had taught her the art of looking like she was meant to be somewhere when people would ordinarily think to question it, so she put that training to use much as she had her skill with lock picks and casually made her way towards the final staircase that led to the first floor. There was hardly anyone up on the second floor at all (even without the dragon below, the library didn't see many visitors aside from Belle) but she saw a few here and there through the stacks of books and she saw even more people as she made her way down the stairs. Giving Belle a soft smile in greeting as she came down the last few steps, though mostly the smile was fueled by her amusement at the puzzled look on the other woman's face, she came to a stop before the desk that the librarian had no doubt been behind for long enough to have seen Emma come into the building regardless of when she had entered. At least, she would have seen her had she used the door.

"Emma," she started, interrupting herself and starting again, "Sherriff Swan I mean. I'm sorry for not saying hello earlier but I honestly didn't see you come in." Emma could hear more than just simple curiosity lacing her voice and bit back a chuckle.

"I'm not really the Sherriff anymore Belle," she reminded the brunette with another cheerful smile. "And don't worry about it," she added dismissively, "I know you're busy in here." Knowing better than most that it was best to cut and run now before she got drawn into a long conversation she started for the doors again, turning partially to stay facing Belle even as she moved away. "Hey, I have to go check on Henry." Technically, not a lie, but also not quite the truth. Those were the kinds of lies she did best. "I'll catch you later, yeah?"

Belle nodded dumbly in response, no doubt still trying to figure out how Emma had even gotten in the building, but Emma was already gone.


	5. Chapter 5

“Ruby, I need your help,” Emma said hesitantly, holding onto a tree limb as if for dear life. And perhaps it truly was a life or death matter, since she was definitely further up the tree than anyone would have found comfortable, and with no feasible way of getting all the way down. Maybe Regina had been doing some magical eavesdropping that time she had sent Emma to the Sheriff’s Station because this was the exact scenario she had feared when David had teasingly brought it up weeks before.

“Sure, what can I do for you Emma?” Ruby’s voice sounded a little tinny through the phone’s speakers, and the slight clinking of silverware on plates placed Ruby in the diner. 

Emma tried not to let her voice get higher as she spoke. “Do you think Granny would let you leave the diner for a little bit?”

Ruby was clearly a bit confused by the request but was trying to be obliging anyway. “Yeah, she might. Why, do you need me to make a delivery or something?”

“Or something,” was the wry answer.

“Well, yeah, I mean that’s work so it’s not like she can keep me here, right?” Ruby asked rhetorically. “Do you just want me to being you your usual?”

“It’s, uh, I don’t need you to bring me food, Ruby,” Emma said, trying not to glance at the ground as she shifted her grip cautiously on the tree branch that was making her feel secure. When she did actually think about it, Regina hadn’t chosen the easiest tree to get down from but she had placed her in a fairly secure location. The branch below her was wide and felt sturdy, and Emma got the feeling that if she was a little less chicken that she could be dancing around up here like Mowgli from the Jungle Book. Maybe she needed to be a touch more animated. Was Mowgli real too? Emma felt her head spin with the possibilities and her grip on the branch tightened until her knuckles were white.

“Oh, wait, then what… where are you, Emma?” Ruby started out confused, but by the end of the sentence she seemed downright suspicious.

“In the forest.” Emma winced at the admission.

“Magic lessons again?” Ruby guessed. Emma wasn’t sure if that was code for what they got up to after their magic lessons or if Ruby actually did mean magic lessons, but she figured either way it was close enough.

“Yeah. Can you come get me?”

“Sure hang on.” Emma gave a mirthless snort of laughter at the werewolf’s choice of words as Ruby covered the mouthpiece of her phone and explained the basics to Granny. “Do you know where you are this time?” The last time Ruby had helped her, Emma had been stuck in the middle of the forest with no real idea where she was. Conveniently, Ruby’s nose worked better than most for tracking purposes but it had still taken quite a bit of time for her to be found. Emma hadn’t wanted to wander too far by herself in case she was going completely the wrong direction.

“Yeah, I’m barely a stone’s throw away from the Toll Bridge. Troll Bridge. Whatever.” Luckily, Emma could see that from where she was.

“Then why don’t you just walk over there and I’ll swing by and pick you up?” Ruby suggested as the bell above the door to the diner gave a slight tinkle. Emma supposed she should have been grateful that Ruby was moving so quickly.

“About that…” Emma would have rubbed the back of her neck, which she was sure was turning red, if she’d had a free hand. “I can’t exactly go anywhere at the moment.”

“Emma,” that suspicious tone was back in Ruby’s voice, “Where are you? Exactly.”

“A tree?” The word came out more like a question than an answer as her voice cracked midway through. Great, stuck in a tree and talking like a pubescent teenaged boy.

Ruby gave a loud bark of laughter that had Emma holding the phone away from her ear with a wince, but luckily Ruby managed to control her laughter fairly quickly. “You just hang in there, Rapunzel,” she teased, though the words were somewhat reassuring nonetheless, “I’ll be right there.”

“Hey Rubes?” Emma asked before the waitress could hang up, pushing aside the thoughts that wondered if Rapunzel was real. It seemed that the more time one spent in a tree the more time one spent wondering about the most inane details.

“Yeah?”

“You’re gonna need a tall ladder. And, uhm, could you bring me some clothes?” The blush she was sporting was downright painful now and had spread across her entire face and chest, and even to her ears.

“I’m going to get the wrong idea one of these days Emma,” Ruby teased joyfully, clearly enjoying this way too much, once more at Emma’s expense. “Worst case scenario we send you to Archie to get rid of this compulsion to strip in public. Or we send you down to the Rabbit Hole.” Emma could just picture the salacious wink that accompanied that suggestion. “Shirtless again?”

“And braless,” Emma muttered, but the keen wolf hearing picked it up anyway. The shriek of laughter that Ruby let out had Emma holding the phone away from her ear as she looked ruefully down at her body, clothed only from the waist down.

“I stand corrected, Tarzan! Remind me to hug her when she gets her heart back and won’t try to kill me for it,” Ruby requested, voice still bubbling with barely controlled laughter.

“You’re an ass,” Emma told her, promptly hanging up the phone. Perhaps not her wisest move, but also not the worst one she’d ever made. That settled, she tried to make herself comfortable. Regina was so in for an earful.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma’s eyes opened slightly at movement from the other side of the bed only to see Regina preparing to slip from the covers. Without thought, only knowing that she was sated and sleepy and not at all ready to get up yet, let alone ready for the gorgeous mayor to leave bed, Emma reached out to grasp a slender wrist.

“Don’t get up yet,” she ordered softly with a slight tug. Uncharacteristically, at least based on the past few weeks, Regina softened and allowed herself to be pulled back closer to the bed.

“Emma,” she said with a put-upon sigh, trying feebly to slide from the blonde’s grip and out of the bed.

“No,” Emma ordered stubbornly, tightening her grip. In retrospect, she should have known better than to presume to give an order to the heartless Evil Queen. She sensed more than saw the lazy flick of Regina’s wrist as purple mist covered her vision entirely. Damnit. 

Preparing herself to be banished to who knew where, wearing absolutely nothing but a sheet that probably wouldn’t end up making the journey with her, she was not prepared to see the purple mist being streaked through with blue swirls until the entire cloud had turned an electric blue. When it cleared, she was still on the bed, still in a sheet, and still with her fingers around Regina’s wrist.

Regina’s expressions were typically very schooled but the open and unguarded expression of shock on her face went straight into Emma, who was fairly surprised herself although not necessarily confused, as their eyes met and they both regarded each other with wary uncertainty.

“Emma, you just-"

“Yeah,” the blonde confirmed breathlessly, the beginnings of a triumphant smile beginning to play around the corners of her lips.

“How did you-" The mayor hadn’t yet graduated to full sentences.

“I can practice magic on my own, you know,” Emma informed her reproachfully, as if disappointed that Regina was so surprised. And in a way she was, while at the same time knowing that they had not yet come to the right time to have this lesson, as Emma’s powers were still unpredictable at times. What Regina didn’t know, of course, was that last week when Ruby had come to rescue her from the tall tree in the middle of the woods by the Toll Bridge (Troll Bridge. Whatever) she had ended up taking a crash course lesson in teleportation. Ruby still laughed about the incident whenever someone even remotely mentioned the woods or the Toll Bridge (Troll Bridge. Whatever), and she was looking back on the whole thing rather fondly. Emma, of course, was a little more sour about it, but she couldn’t hate the fact that she had learned to teleport, even if she had wished the lesson as slightly more graceful. She had pictured it many times, but she didn’t think that she would have learned to teleport the first time as a knee-jerk reaction to slipping out of the tree while attempting to transfer onto the ladder. She also hadn’t imagined being totally topless at the time, but the point was that she had gained a very shaky grasp of teleportation from the whole incident and while she couldn’t teleport on command, or accurately to any location, she could manage to instinctually do it when she least expected it. At least it had proven to be a handy skill, now for the second time.

“Of course you can,” Regina all but purred as she slid back under the covers, reaching for Emma as the expression of shock on her face gave way to an expression of smug satisfaction. “the amount of potential in you, Emma, is simply astounding. I wish I had gotten my hands on you sooner,” she said, nuzzling against the Savior’s neck and licking the pulse point lightly. Emma was pretty sure that the last time they had spoken of ‘potential’ Regina had said that she was a complete waste of it, but she wasn’t stupid enough to say so right that instant.

“Oh yeah?” she asked breathlessly, with a delighted grin as she buried her fingers deep into the brunette’s hair and tugged her in for a kiss. It was slow but full of passion, tongues sliding against each other with open-mouthed abandon and languid touches. “How come you don’t kiss me like that every time I learn a new magic trick?” she said when they broke apart, eyes opening and meeting molten chocolate that simmered with passion.

“Because this is the first time that you have truly exceeded my expectations,” was the casual response as Regina’s fingers left her hair and traced dizzying patterns down the expanse of the blonde’s chest and shoulders. The comment stung slightly, but Emma brushed it off and chose instead to rise to the challenge such a sentiment presented.

“Maybe you just haven’t given me reason to,” she suggested, one hand freeing itself from Regina’s hair and pulling the woman’s slim body flush with hers. 

“Maybe I should fix that,” Regina responded, pulling her into a kiss that she instantly dominated, teeth sharp as they nipped at Emma’s lips and her lips pressing against the blonde’s with bruising force. Emma fought back against it, her own teeth and lips matching every movement and her fingers tugging at Regina’s hair with little concern for gentleness. They pulled apart, breathless and flushed, and Regina’s fingers found Emma’s wrists with an evil smirk as she tugged the blonde’s wrists up above her head. This was a move that Emma was familiar with, as it had become a favorite over the past few months, but Emma’s fingers itched to reverse their positions and to do to Regina what Regina had been doing to her for months.

Summoned by the thought, within a second the electric blue cloud of smoke had formed and when it disappeared Emma was alone in the bed.

“Fucking shit,” Emma swore, sitting bolt upright and trying not to panic at how utterly pissed Regina would be once she made her way back from… Emma didn’t even know where she had sent the Mayor. “Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit,” she muttered, burying her face in her palms in abject horror. She was still chanting those same words when the phone rang two seconds later and she stopped only for long enough to check the caller ID and answer the phone.

“Ruby I just made a terrible mistake,” she practically wailed into the phone.

“A mistake? Girl, your woman is even hotter than I’d realized under all those pantsuits!” came Ruby’s voice. “But if I were you I wouldn’t be quite so eager to share such a lovely view, if you catch my drift. Especially when those you unwittingly share with are definitely going to get burned by those nasty fireballs.” There was a slight pause and then Emma could hear, horrifyingly, the sound of Regina’s voice coming in quietly, but audibly, through the speaker.

“Miss Lucas, you are going to give me that phone now so that I can speak to Miss Swan,” Emma winced, “and then you are going to leave this room and forget that this incident ever happened.”

She was so dead. And Ruby was going to tease her for years about this one. Shit.


End file.
